White Paper

2

Member Marketing

Ideation

June 9, 2010

The B.O.S.S. Group Inc.

2 Bloor Street West Suite 2601

Toronto Ontario

M4w 2E2

2 White Paper Copyright © The B.O.S.S. Group

White Paper

2

Ideal Client

One of the most important determining factors in building an

online business, or a business with an effective sales/marketing online presence is the consideration of its

target market—in other words, understanding “who is the ideal client?” For example, you wouldn’t market your product the

same way to a “tween” as you would to an adult. Understanding and identifying the ideal client, how will they

use this online presence, and what message you want to deliver is the most valuable piece to the marketing puzzle.

Knowing information about your target market such as income level, family status, demographics and psychographics help

you relate to the ideal client. Gathering information on habits, attitudes, perceptions and past behaviours that relate to your

brand will help your online presence evolve as your market

evolves.

Tone and Image

The way an ideal client perceives you, your company, and your

product will, in large part, be based on the tone and image they receive from the message you deliver. Do you want to be

perceived as funny and casual, or formal? Understanding what helps you better relate to your target audience is a main focus.

Ask yourself: what will target audiences believe about me and my brand based on my tone and image? Will it be the most

effective?

Features

Identifying the specific features an online presence will encompass allows the design team to create user-benefit-

3 White Paper Copyright © The B.O.S.S. Group

White Paper

2 focused features that will not only attract users to investigate

the site, but will help to retain the relationship. Knowing what features are the most important and vital to an online

presence’s success will help to focus our attention on the main

cogs to the engine, versus spending valuable resources on moot points. We use the discussion to define the key features

of the online experience.

Values and Benefits

When a lead/prospect comes to the site, the main feeling he or

she should have is that there is a value and benefit intrinsic with the offering. Creating a tangible, perceived value to the

target audiences is what will drive retention and convert leads

into actual customers. To know the core value of the offering we must ask: “what one point summarizes its unique value?

What are the other key value points and benefits of the offering?”

Communication Objectives

Understanding what objectives you are trying to communicate will help you and your online presence deliver a message with

a clear voice that is understood by all and related to by your

target audience. The communications objectives most often identified include: to increase brand awareness, convert

visitors into paying clients, to promote new features, to weaken competitor assault, to deliver a unified message.

Competitive Differentiation

When visitors and customer know what differentiates your brand from others and see its value, you have built a

competitive differentiator. Understanding what is offered by

your competitors and what makes your offering different is the

4 White Paper Copyright © The B.O.S.S. Group

White Paper

2 primary attribute to defining competitive differentiation. An

example of competitive differentiation is to deliver something unique that the consumers are looking for in a specific

category of lifestyle.

Knowing how you want to position the brand in consumers’

minds and what makes your brand the most prominent will allow your value proposition to cut through the competitive

clutter. When creating competitive differentiation, some questions to ask yourself are: “What is the core essence of my

brand? How will my brand and online presence differentiate itself from my competitors?”

Marketplace Positioning

For a product or service to become successful in terms of sales

and in generating revenues, it must be properly positioned in the market. A product that is not positioned in its ideal

market, price-point, target group, or sales channel may lack in sales performance—even though this is not due to the product

itself. For example, winter coats may generate very low sales in warm climates, but that doesn’t mean there is no market for

winter coats; it only means there is a greater opportunity in colder climates. Knowing how to position your product in the

market, and in which markets, can lead to sure-fire success. What is the opportunity you see in the marketplace? What do

we have to do with the brand to grasp this opportunity?

The Provocative Emote

Every product or service in the market that holds brand

awareness typically resonates with the customer and offers a positive emotion with its use or consumption.

Understanding how your brand can provoke emotion and

engage the ideal client is what will separate your product or service from the pack. In determining what provokes

emotion by your brand, you must ask yourself “What should

5 White Paper Copyright © The B.O.S.S. Group

White Paper

2 our communication make consumers feel, think and do?

What is the response we are looking for in consumers to make the decision to join? What are the barriers in the

consumer’s mind that stand in the way of joining?”

About The B.O.S.S. Group

The B.O.S.S. Group Inc. was created in 2004 by senior corporate executives with one overriding purpose to work

with progressive companies that recognize the need to engage their clients and customers in a meaningful way,

and by doing so, increase sales and revenue.

The B.O.S.S. Group unites social and online, giving our clients the opportunity to reach their customers by allowing

them to participate in the most unique blending of web, mobile, social, direct mail, loyalty and analytics.

As a true digital marketing partner, we develop the strategies and offer the products to engage current client

base, acquire new clients and build brand value in the marketplace.

Contact Us

The B.O.S.S. Group Inc. 2 Bloor Street West

Suite 2601 Toronto Ontario

M4w 2E2

Or call 416 948 9093

Or e-mail connect@bossgroup.ca